What I think that we need to recognize is that we have to work for social mechanisms that drive towards quality and thoughtfulness. And that we are still very much at the beginnings of that. We have some hints of it here and there […] Newspapers haven’t figured out how to engage their audiences in a way that is productive. Instead, we have comment boards that are useless angry people that are yelling at each other.

Andrew Keen, entrepreneur and writer, discusses:

The Issue of Anonymity, not the Internet

Western culture thinks: The Internet is a Right, not a responsibility

Jeff Jarvis: The Internet is the Next Society

Social contract theory

Central fact of social, cultural, and political life in the 21st century

Key responsibility in the West: reveal who you are to solve the problem

Micah Sifry, co-founder of Personal Democracy Forum, makes compelling arguments that suggest anonymity is a double-edged sword. There are circumstantial benefits to anonymity.

Closing Remarks
It’s most beneficial to push these three minds together, without losing form or becoming mush. They all make great arguments and marshal strong evidence to support their claims. We can’t forget they are on the same side: to promote digital and push this culture forward. If we combined all perspectives, [and were able to execute and pull it off] the Internet might be a utopia.

Imagine a culture that embraces social mechanisms to promote quality, thoughtfulness, and responsibility while still enabling the present nodes of communication, especially the freedom to post anonymously.

The nature of digital is a constant state of flux, which means it’s difficult to grasp exactly how to communicate. I like to call the places we communicate: joints, as a knee or elbow but much more flexible and durable. These joints allow us to interpret language and construct meaning. We’re all learning along the way. A little patience might help us, and go a long way.